Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction Comparison/Review
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction was released for the PS3 in 2007, it was made by Insomniac Games and was the first game in the new R&C trilogy for the PS3.
The story feels a bit too serious for what the Ratchet and Clank have been, there's some humour but it's lacking and only happens when Captain Qwark is around, everything else is treated as a "go here, do this" situation which leaves you feeling like the game is walking you through it's forced story instead of being a weird and wacky adventure with no real urgency even though there's an over the top villain about to destroy the galaxy.
I chose the 3rd person lock strafe controls and even on the highest setting the camera won't turn fast enough to deal with all the enemies around you, the jumping feels weak and feels a bit slow as well.
I'm not sure if it was due to control scheme I chose but there was no aiming mode for the wrench throw which was always useful to hit certain enemies or crates.
The platforming was actually quite fun and didn't drag on or become too difficult but it didn't happen often and the focus is obviously on the action. There was also a whole bunch of new and old gadgets going on, like the grindboots, swingshot and heli-pods. They were all quite fun to and only a few were annoying, just make sure you disable the SIX-axis controls because they take too long to get used to.
The combat difficulty is fine for the first third of the game (which I blitzed through) then it starts to become much harder by having enemies that soak up damage from your old weapons and kill you in a few hits, you can learn their patterns but there's generally too much going on, so you just have to rely on killing them as quickly as possible with your strongest weapons.
I really hated this because the R&C has always been about flexible combat with most of the older weapons right up to the end, instead of being a puzzle with only a few solutions.
Right near the end of the game you can get the newest version of the RYNO, which almost makes all the other weapons useless and makes a mockery of the final boss.
Clank segments are still pretty painful like always and rely on you commanding the Zoni to charge and repair obstacles and also make you hover or slow down time. There's also some enemies from time to time and the Zoni are too weak to deal with them properly so you have to run around while hoping that they don't eat you first.
The music and sound is probably the best part of it.
It's a bit less memorable than previous games but still quite good, The best I can describe it is a nice mix of orchestra instruments and space themed electronic music.
The sound effects for the weapons often sound cooler than the weapons themselves, especially the multi lock-on missiles. All the voice acting is great as well.
The graphics look great, there's not too many bugs but the materials and effects lack an overall consistency, some things look stylised while other things are trying to be more realistic. The most obvious graphical bugs are the physic effects not working right which leaves debris or items floating in the air and sometimes the whole game suffers from a weird flickering, there's a lot of bloom going on unnecessarily but I'm glad they didn't apply it to everything or it would have been a blurry mess.
I haven't finished the challenge mode yet but I plan to do so soon because that's usually when the game feels better because you have access to all the weapons and and their more powerful versions.
Overall I'd give it a 6/10. It works but it's not really that much fun.
If you are a fan of the PS2 Ratchet & Clank games you will probably be disappointed, if you are new to the series you will probably enjoy it more than I did.
I've also started playing the sequel: Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty, I hope it gets better because it's a really linear so far.
The story feels a bit too serious for what the Ratchet and Clank have been, there's some humour but it's lacking and only happens when Captain Qwark is around, everything else is treated as a "go here, do this" situation which leaves you feeling like the game is walking you through it's forced story instead of being a weird and wacky adventure with no real urgency even though there's an over the top villain about to destroy the galaxy.
I chose the 3rd person lock strafe controls and even on the highest setting the camera won't turn fast enough to deal with all the enemies around you, the jumping feels weak and feels a bit slow as well.
I'm not sure if it was due to control scheme I chose but there was no aiming mode for the wrench throw which was always useful to hit certain enemies or crates.
The platforming was actually quite fun and didn't drag on or become too difficult but it didn't happen often and the focus is obviously on the action. There was also a whole bunch of new and old gadgets going on, like the grindboots, swingshot and heli-pods. They were all quite fun to and only a few were annoying, just make sure you disable the SIX-axis controls because they take too long to get used to.
The combat difficulty is fine for the first third of the game (which I blitzed through) then it starts to become much harder by having enemies that soak up damage from your old weapons and kill you in a few hits, you can learn their patterns but there's generally too much going on, so you just have to rely on killing them as quickly as possible with your strongest weapons.
I really hated this because the R&C has always been about flexible combat with most of the older weapons right up to the end, instead of being a puzzle with only a few solutions.
Right near the end of the game you can get the newest version of the RYNO, which almost makes all the other weapons useless and makes a mockery of the final boss.
Clank segments are still pretty painful like always and rely on you commanding the Zoni to charge and repair obstacles and also make you hover or slow down time. There's also some enemies from time to time and the Zoni are too weak to deal with them properly so you have to run around while hoping that they don't eat you first.
The music and sound is probably the best part of it.
It's a bit less memorable than previous games but still quite good, The best I can describe it is a nice mix of orchestra instruments and space themed electronic music.
The sound effects for the weapons often sound cooler than the weapons themselves, especially the multi lock-on missiles. All the voice acting is great as well.
The graphics look great, there's not too many bugs but the materials and effects lack an overall consistency, some things look stylised while other things are trying to be more realistic. The most obvious graphical bugs are the physic effects not working right which leaves debris or items floating in the air and sometimes the whole game suffers from a weird flickering, there's a lot of bloom going on unnecessarily but I'm glad they didn't apply it to everything or it would have been a blurry mess.
I haven't finished the challenge mode yet but I plan to do so soon because that's usually when the game feels better because you have access to all the weapons and and their more powerful versions.
Overall I'd give it a 6/10. It works but it's not really that much fun.
If you are a fan of the PS2 Ratchet & Clank games you will probably be disappointed, if you are new to the series you will probably enjoy it more than I did.
I've also started playing the sequel: Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty, I hope it gets better because it's a really linear so far.
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